Out with the old, in with the new (a tale of shoes) #Running

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Today's Run

Today's run was a real challenge. Reached my highest mileage since the Half marathon. I would say that taking into account the short walking breaks I still probably ran almost 5 miles! Felt good to hit that mark.

Made a couple of decisions on today's run. First, at least once a week I am going to turn my pacer back on, to urge me to pick up the pace, get moving a little faster. Second, came up with an idea on how to cut one of my regular meals down some but still get what I want out of it. Last, going to see if Jimmy wants to start coming out with me on my Saturday runs, just for a change of pace, and a chance to get him out of the house on the weekends.

This week I had to finally accept that it was time to make a change. These were my running shoes:

Reebok flex, purchased in June when we in San Dego. And they have been great. From the beaches, to the roads and sidewalks to the gravel trails, they have served me very well for almost 6 months and about 300 miles. But when I started noticing my feet hurting almost all the time on the day of my run, and it took almost a day to get them stretched back to normal I realized it was time to hang them up. 

So Monday I pulled these down from my closet:

Yeah, pretty much the exact same shoes, except for a different color. Bought at the same time and place as the others I have had these sitting on the shelf for just this time to occur. 2 days and 2 good runs later I can say that I was correct in my judgement, my foot pain has not returned after making the switch. Which is always good, because I do dread when I get some unusual pain that I have hurt something significant. But gladly that wasn't the case this time. And I can just pick up where I left off with basically no transition period.

New day, different route, still good results

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Today's Run

Decided to change things up today with a different route. Not one I haven't done before, but a different one from what I have been running for a while now. Nothing spectacular occurred. But it felt good to change things up, especially as I was running a much longer program. I didn't get near the distance and pace that I would like as an ideal, but it was good training. To get past the 4 mile mark felt good again.

2 days into the new eating program, so far so good. Trying to put a real emphasis on fiber at virtually every meal. Making sure I get filled up again, something that I was lacking. Also trying to get into a pattern of less meat in general. Again, not any specific, strict diet. I know in my head what I should and should not eat, and if I try to stick to that, and log what I eat I should see the improvement that I want.

Ready for a fresh start with some clear, simple goals

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Had a good run today, 3 miles + with only a couple minimal walking periods. And I made my mind up with a different approach to the continuing problems of eating and exercise. I decided that the best thing for me at this point would be to set smaller, simple goals on both fronts. Goals that I feel I should be able to accomplish in the desired time. And then build on that progress moving forward.

Running

I haven't given up on the long term goal of completing a marathon. But, faced with the twin obstacles of irregular holiday schedules and cold weather beginning to rear it's head I wondered how could I get there? But I realized that today that instead of focusing on that big, long range goal I could turn my focus to another, simpler goal, one I can build on.

So my goal now is simple: run a 10K on January 1. I feel confident that I can do that. And let me be clear, I am not talking a run/walk, I could to that now. I want to be able to do that distance with no breaks. So I think I can do that. And once MiCoach stops being goofy I can set up a training schedule to accomplish it.

I figure that while I currently run 3 miles as my regular distance it makes sense to choose that next distance as a goal. And by hitting that distance at that time it would be an excellent building block toward the eventual goal of a marathon.

Weight

Simple, get back under 200 by the end of the year. Again, like running a 10K, this is not something I haven't done before. But by setting an achievable interim goal I can focus myself better.

Of course this will probably be harder to accomplish because I will have to get more disciplined in my eating. With that in mind I have decided to return to monitoring my eating with the LoseIt app. Like using a running app to track my running distances the discipline of filling out the eating log should really help me get better about my eating habits.

These are simple goals. Ones that I can build on. And also know that once I succeed at them I can use that as a spring board for future goals.

Thrown off my plan, but still running.

Dear James, Daniel and Emily,

Darn MiCoach App wasn't working for a week, totally threw me off my plan. But I stuck to my scheduled running days, except Wednesday, when I stayed up late to watch the final gritty end of the election coverage.

I noticed the effect today of time off and not adhering to the structure this morning. But I stuck with it, pushed to my customary 3 miles.

Still struggling to control my appetite and eating habits. But I think the biggest thing there is to just be aware, keep running, and do my best. No excuses, just not in the right mind set lately to really hold to the self control.

That feeling you get from doing a workout when you really don't feel like it

Dear James, Daniel and Emily

Today's Run

Today was my first Friday run in about a month. The last couple of weeks have been hard on my running schedule, and fitness in general. Which I knew it would be. 4/5 of the family has their birthdays within a 30 day period, plus Halloween, and Customer Service week. Which means a month of lots of eating junk food, tons of temptation, and plenty of diversions. 

So this morning, when the alarm went off I wasn't really excited about getting up and running. Had to break that habit of sleeping in on Fridays. 

But, I did it, I dragged myself out of bed. Put on the running clothes, and snuck out of the house as quietly as possible. And forced myself to get started on a tempo run. Which is always one of the harder workouts, even though it is short from a time perspective.

And yeah, it wasn't one of my best runs, I ran out of gas, and failed to hit my pace a lot. But I kept going, and when I hit that third mile I kept going, even though my program said I could stop. And when I did finally slow to a walk and do the cool down, I felt good!

Now is the time to focus on the little improvements and start rebuilding my wind and strength. I know I can do it, it is just a challenge. But it's a challenge I know I can meet, so here we go, time to get rolling back into a better fitness habit and plan.